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HONEY BEES

Bees feed on nectar primarily for energy, and pollen for nutrients. Pollen is used as food for larvae.
Bees have a long "tongue" that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. The best-known bee
species is the western honey bee, which ironically unlike most bee species, produces honey. This is the
most common bee found in traditional bee keeping. Honey bee queens release pheremones to
regulate hive activities, and worker bees also produce pheromones for various communications. Bees
produce honey by collecting nectar. The collecting bees store the nectar in a second stomach and
return to the hive where worker bees remove the nectar. Worker bees then digest the raw nectar for
roughly 30 minutes to break up the complex sugars into simpler ones. Raw honey is then spread out in
empty honeycomb cells to dry. When nectar is being processed, honeybees create a draft through the
hive by fanning with their wings. Once dried, the cells of the honeycomb are sealed with wax to
preserving the honey. The honey bee needs an internal body temperature of 95º Fahrenheit to fly,
which is also the temperature within the cluster. The nest needs the same temperature over a long
period to develop the brood, and it is the optimal temperature for the creation of wax.

Africanized honey bees

Africanized honey bees, also known as Killer Bees release a pheremone when attacking which is what signals other africanized
bees to attack as well. While the Africanized honey bee's sting is no more potent than that of the
traditional bee, in large numbers the venom will overwhelm the body.

Bee removal methods

When a hive detects smoke, bees become non aggressive. This is primarily a defense mechanism; wild
colonies generally live in hollow trees, and when bees detect smoke it is presumed that they prepare
to evacuate from a forest fire, carrying as much food reserve as they can. In order to do this, they will
go to the nearest honey storage cells and gorge on honey. In this state they are quite docile since
defense from predation is relatively unimportant; saving as much as possible is the most important
activity.

Bee keeping

Honey bees are colonial insects that often are maintained, fed, and transported by professional bee
keepers. Honey bees do not survive individually, but rather as part of the colony. Reproduction is also
accomplished at the colony level. As mentioned above, honey bees collect flower nectar and convert it
to honey which is stored in their hives. The nectar is transported in the stomach of the bees, and is
converted to honey through the addition of various digestive enzymes and stored. Nectar and honey
provide the energy for the bees' flight muscles and for heating the hive during cold periods. Honey
bees also collect pollen which supplies protein and fat for the colony's young to grow. Selective
breeding by bee keepers have created honey bees that produce far more honey than the colony
needs. Beekeepers often provide a place for the colony to live and to store honey. There are seven
basic types of beehive; skeps, Langstroth hives, top-bar hives, box hives, log gums, D.E. hives, and
miller hives. Modern hives also enable beekeepers to transport honey bees, moving from field to field
as the crop needs pollinating and allowing the beekeeper to charge for the pollination services they
provide.